I, along with you, the BCB reader, have written a great deal on this site regarding Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer’s inactivity. Hoyer has not signed any major-league free agents, and his most recent major-league deals were to acquire Jose Cuas and Jeimer Candelario before the July 31 trade deadline.
I wanted to share something with you before you got all fired up and upset again. Josh said this to me when we were talking about the events of this offseason, which have mostly involved the Dodgers.
The Dodgers have been preparing for this day for years, but many are disregarding that. With Trea Turner and Corey Seager, they have perhaps the best middle infield in the game, yet they both allowed walks. Max Scherzer was allowed to go. Cody Bellinger was allowed to walk; granted, he wasn’t performing, but it’s not as though they wouldn’t have like to have him back. They purposefully let Trevor Bauer’s contract expire at the end of this year when they signed him. (The Dodgers had no idea how that one would pan out.) Clayton Kershaw may opt out of his contract. And last winter, they made no attempt to sign anyone. They made no attempt to sign Aaron Judge, despite the fact that he would have been fantastic for them.
Not to mention that, other things being equal, Japanese players tend to be more inclined to play in Los Angeles. While San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego all have some allure, only San Francisco can match the Dodgers’ financial resources, and the fact that the team hasn’t truly been competitive since Buster Posey’s retirement hurts them. Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned down a deal from the Dodgers despite the Mets supposedly matching it for him for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, Shohei Ohtani purposefully drafted his contract in a way that would enable such. (And let’s clarify. Ohtani agreed to a $460 million, ten-year contract. The $700 million sum was merely symbolic.
The Cubs had no option but to pass on signing Ohtani or Yamamoto. It is said that Ohtani informed the Cubs in advance that he had no interest in visiting Chicago. Yamamoto also desired to live in either New York or Los Angeles, so when Ohtani recruited him, LA was the obvious decision.
